The following articles are reproduced from the May 2018 Newsletter to
members. Non-members may or may not be able to relate to the contents.

Lord Buddha

“I will first say that there can be no Planetary
Spirit that was not once material or what you call human. When our
great Buddha — the patron of all the adepts, the reformer and the
codifier of the occult system, reached first Nirvana on
earth, he became a Planetary Spirit; i.e. — his spirit could
at one and the same time rove the interstellar spaces in fullconsciousness, and continue at will on Earth in his original
and individual body. For the divine Self had so completely
disfranchised itself from matter that it could create at will an
inner substitute for itself, and leaving it in the human form for
days, weeks, sometimes years, affect in no wise by the change either
the vital principle or the physical mind of its body. By the way,
that is the highest form of adeptship man can hope for on our
planet.”

"The Lord Gautama Buddha,
instead of devoting Himself wholly to other and higher work after His
Mahaparanirvana, has remained sufficiently in touch with our world to be
reached by the invocation of His successor when necessary, so that His
advice and help can still be obtained in any great emergency. He also undertook to return to the world once in each
year and shed upon it a flood of blessing.

The Lord Buddha has His
own special type of force, which He outpours when He gives His blessing
to the world, and this benediction is a unique and very marvellous
thing; for by His authority and position, a Buddha has access to
planes of nature which are altogether beyond our reach, hence He can
transmute and draw down to our level the forces peculiar to those
planes. Without this mediation of the Buddha these forces would
be of no use to us here in physical life; their vibrations are so
tremendous, so incredibly rapid, that they would pass through us
unsensed at any level we can reach, and we should never even know of
their existence. But as it is, the force of the blessing is scattered
all over the world; and it instantly finds for itself channels through
which it can pour (just as water instantly finds an open pipe), thereby
strengthening all good work and bringing peace to the hearts of those
who are able to receive it.

The occasion selected for this wonderful outpouring is
the full moon day of the Indian month of Vaisakh (Wesak), and
usually corresponding to the month of May, the anniversary of all the
momentous occurrences of His last earthly life—His birth, His attainment
of Buddhahood and His departure from the physical body.

In connection with this visit of His, and quite apart
from its tremendous esoteric significance, an exoteric ceremony is
performed in the physical plane at which the Lord actually shows Himself
in the presence of a crowd of ordinary pilgrims. All Members of the
Great Occult Hierarchy, except the Lord of the World and the
three Kumaras, usually attend this ceremony.

The place selected for this stupendous occasion is a
small plateau surrounded by low hills, which lies on the northern side
of the Himalayas, not far from the frontier of Nepal, about 400 miles
west of Lhasa. This location is commonly referred to as the Wesak
Valley and the occasion is referred to as the Wesak Festival."

Bishop C. W. Leadbeater gave a first-hand account from
his personal participation and the Wesak Festival is described in
great detail in his book The Masters And The Path which was first
published in 1925. There are several entries in Geoffrey Hodson’s occult
diary, Light of the Sanctuary, chronicling his attendance at the
Wesak Festival. In his entry of May 30, 1949 he writes “This is a
most vivid conscious experience and completely satisfies me concerning
C.W. Leadbeater’s account”.

Normally this day coincides with the
15th (full-moon) day of the Fourth Month in the Chinese Lunar calendar, which is
always a public holiday in Singapore. This year, Buddha Purnima falls on
Monday, 30 April 2018 whereas the gazetted public holiday comes a month
later. We shall hold our traditional annual Wesak Day celebration on the public
holiday on Tuesday, 29 May, at 10 a.m.

White Lotus Day

Madame H. P. Blavatsky
has always been a tremendous source of inspiration for all students of
occultism. Not only was she well loved and remembered by members of the
original Theosophical Society, she also had many friends and followers
outside of the Theosophical Society. Indeed, many movements were founded
outside the Theosophical Society to study her teachings. Even today,
more than a century after her death, new movements are still being
formed pledging personal allegiance to H.P.B. and faithfully adhering to
her original teachings. This is especially true in the cyberworld of the
Internet. We could almost say that many people are fiercely loyal to our
founder, Madame Blavatsky.

We join all these followers and students throughout the
world to commemorate the passing of Madame H.P. Blavatsky on May
8. This is the 127th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest
occultists in recent history. We call this day White Lotus Day to
remember with fondness the founder of the Theosophical Society.
White Lotus Day was declared­ by the co-founder and President
Col. H. S. Olcott in 1892 as a Day of Remembrance to "express the
feeling of loving regard for her who brought us the chart of the climbing Path
which leads to the summit of knowledge".

Wesak Celebration

This year we shall celebrate Wesak Day on Tuesday 29 May 2018 at 10
a.m. Although the actual Wesak Day this year is on 30 April 2018,
we believe there will be a tremendous outpouring of beneficent forces on
29 May 2018 as millions of people, a great portion of the world’s
population from the various Buddhist traditions, will be celebrating Wesak on that day. This, we understand, is in line with the laws of
nature that divine forces will take advantage of great congregations of
devotional people as useful channels for the outpouring of blessings.

As we normally do, we
will have a talk giving a detailed account of the esoteric Wesak
Festival including a video recording made by an Australian TV
station of pilgrims gathering at the legendary Wesak Valley. Members who
have attended this talk previously may be interested to know that we
will be showing slides indicating what could be the actual location
of the Wesak Valley which was previously thought to be in the
vicinity of Mount Kailas. We will then have group meditation for 49 mins.
A vegetarian buffet lunch will be served thereafter. Come and join this
spiritual celebration on Tuesday, 29 May 2018, at 10 a.m.Please note that
this programme is for members only.

Viveka-Chūdāmani
Study Class

We shall
have our study class every Tuesday except for the 1st and 29th of May as they
are public holidays. Also take note that we will have a recess in June during
the 45th ACTM. The Study Class will resume on Tuesday, 26 June 2018.

45th
Edition of A Course in Theosophy

As part of
our continuing effort to achieve our twin-object of popularizing a knowledge of
theosophy and induction of new members, we will be starting our 43rd edition of
A Course in Theosophy & Meditation on Saturday, 2 June 2018.

Theosophy
encompasses the science of life and the philosophy of living and has helped many
people in the world. All members can help in the mission of popularizing a
knowledge of theosophy. You will be doing humanity a great service by reaching
out and bringing newcomers to the Society, to expose them to the theosophical
teachings. As the Master has said, “Spheres of usefulness can be
found everywhere. The first object of the Society is philanthropy. The true
Theosophist is a philanthropist who—‘not for himself but for the world he
lives’…” “This, and philosophy—the right comprehension of life and its
mysteries—will give the ‘necessary basis’ and show the right pathway to pursue.
Yet the best ‘sphere of usefulness’ for the applicant is now in his own land.”

You would
have received our email appeal to publicize this course by appending the
following course information to the end of all your outgoing emails between now
and the commencement of the course. That way we can collectively
reach out to as many people as possible.